Folding sign support



July 7, 1970 Filed April 17, 1968 L. E. WA LTER FOLDING SIGN SUPPORT 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVIiN'IUR.

Laws 4/);70? 36 m" f i Amway Juiy 7, 1970 L. E. WALTER 3,519,235

FOLDING SIGN SUPPORT Filed April 17, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet WWI "HIIIIH IA-VEA TOR. Lav/6 5. M41. r0

July 7, 1970 WALTER 3,519,235

FOLDING SIGN SUPPDRT Filed April 17, 1968 5 Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR. laws Maw/=2 United States Patent 3,519,235 FOLDING SIGN SUPPORT Lewis E. Walter, 9411 59th Ave-, Rego Park, N.Y. 11374 Filed Apr. 17, 1968, Ser. No. 722,066 Int. Ql. F16m 11/38 U.S. Cl. 248166 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A folding sign support is provided which comprises a main support frame and two support leg assemblies pivotally mounted thereon. The support leg assemblies are movable from first positions thereof wherein the same are folded substantially within the main support frame to second positions thereof wherein the support leg assemblies are unfolded from the main support frame and are operative to support the latter above a support surface. By this construction is provided a folding sign support which is compact, truly portable and assemblable and disassemblable by one man, and which functions to satisfactorily support a sign at a high, readily visible level under adverse conditions.

This invention relates to folding sign supports and, more specifically, to folding sign supports which are particularly adapted to the support of temporary highway warning signs under adverse conditions.

Although the prior art is, of course, replete with sign supports, no one prior art sign support is known which provides for the support of signs in the nature of large temporary highway warning signs at high levels to afford maximum sight distance for such signs to apprise motorists on high speed roadways of their impending approach to areas of construction and/or maintenance on the right of way, in addition to providing for the most desirable advantages of simple interchange of message units, flags or flashers and the like, sign support compactness, true portability, ready assembly and disassembly by one man, and the requisite sign support stability under adverse conditions in the nature, for example, of high winds. This is to say that, although there may be prior art sign supports which are compact, truly portable and assemblable and disassemblable by one man, these signs are not sutficiently stable when assembled to pro vide for the mounting of signs, flags and flashers and the like at high levels to afford maximum sight distance to motorists approaching at 6070 mile per hour speeds and to provide satisfactory sign support of this nature under adverse conditions. Alternatively, although there may be a multitude of prior art sign supports which do provide the requisite sign support stability, it is generally found that these sign supports are either too low to preclude sign obstruction by a continous flow of traflic or too bulky, complex and/or massive to be truly portable and assemblable and disassemblable by one man. The importance of highway sign support at high levels to afford maximum sight distances as discussed above is believed clearly exemplified by the provisions of the paragraph entitled Position of signs as appears on pp. 190 and 191 of the 1967 edition of the Regulations of the Department of Highways of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

It is, accordingly, an object of this invention to provide an extremely stable, folding sign support which is satisfactorily operable to support large signs at high levels under adverse conditions.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a folding sign support as above which is compact, light- Patented July 7, 1970 ice weight, truly portable in nature and which can be readily assembled and disassembled by one man.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a folding sign support as above which is of relatively uncomplicated design and construction and requires the use of only readily available materials of proven durability, whereby the costs of fabrication and maintenance thereof are minimized, and operational life periods of long duration assured.

Briefly described, the folding sign support of my invention comprises a main support frame into which are readily foldable a plurality of sign support leg assemblies. The sign support is designed and constructed so that in the folded condition thereof the said leg assemblies are substantially completely contained within the said support frame. Means are provided to retain the leg assemblies within the support frame to prevent accidental unfolding of the latter. When folded, the sign support of my invention presents a compact, lightweight structure which may be readily handled by one man and which accordingly requires but a fraction of the storage space, labor and trucking facilities required by the more bulky types of sign supports of the prior art. Assembly of the sign support is in essence effected by the unfolding and fixing in position of the support leg assemblies, all of which requires only the performance of a plurality of simple steps by one man. When assembled, the sign support is of extremely stable nature having a relatively low center of gravity and a very large support base area, and will function to satisfactorily support large highway signs in the nature, for example, of temporary warning signs, under adverse conditions.

The above and other objects and advantages of my invention are believed made clear by the following detailed description thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a folding sign support constructed in accordance with the teachings of my invention in the folded condition thereof;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 33 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the folded sign support of FIG. 1:

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of the folding sign support of my invention in the unfolded or operative condition thereof;

FIG. 6 is a front elevational view of the sign support in the unfolded or operative condition thereof; and

FIG. 7 is a generally schematic view of the sign support in the unfolded condition thereof as seen from the top and illustrates the very wide support base area provided thereby.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, the new and improved folding sign support of my invention is depicted therein in the folded position thereof and may be seen to comprise a main fame as indicated generally at 10. The main frame 10 is constituted by spaced, generally upright members 12 and 14 which are joined at the respective extremities thereof, as by heli-arc welding as indicated at 16, 18, 20 and 22, to generally horizontal members 24 and 26 to form the generally rectangular, box-like structure illustrated clearly by FIG. 1.

The members 24 and 26 are each of the box-like crosssection made clear by FIG. 2, while the respective upright members 12 and 14 are each constituted by spaced, generally L-shaped members 28 and 30 which cooperate to form the channel-shaped structure as seen in crosssection in FIG. 3 and by which is provided a support leg assembly storage space 31 as described in greater detail hereinbelow. Sign bracket mounting plates 32 are attached, as by welding, at correspondingly spaced points along the inner surfaces of the respective upright members 12 and 14, and sign brackets 34 and 36 are attached, again as by welding, to each of the sign bracket mounting plates 32 in the manner clearly illustrated in FIG. 3. Alternatively, the respective sign bracket mounting plates 32 may, of course, be attached to the respective upright members 12 and 14 by adjustable mounting means in the nature of bolt or clamp assemblies to thus provide for adjustable positioning of the respective sign brackets 34 and 36.

Generally identical support leg assemblies are indicated at 38 and 40, respectively, and, as best seen in FIGS. 4, and 6, the support leg assembly 40 comprises a main leg member 42 which, for purposes of description, may be a support leg sleeve, as shown in the figures, from which which are pivotally supported a pair of leg extensions, or support legs, 44 and 46. In the respective folded or retracted positions thereof the support leg assemblies 38 and 40 fold within the storage spaces 31 provided therefor by the channel-like configurations of the assembled upright members 12 and 14. More specifically, and as clearly illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, for support leg assembly 40, it may be seen that the support leg sleeve 42 is pivotally mounted within the upright member 14 by pivot pin means 48, and the said support leg sleeve is dimensioned to fit, with slight clearance as indicated at 43, within the storage space 31 when the support leg assembly 40 is in the retracted position thereof. Biasing means of a nature described in detail hereinbelow are provided, however, to bias the support legs 44 and 46 outwardly to a slight extent to insure that when the support leg assembly 40 is in the folded or retracted position thereof within the storage space 31, some portions at least of the respective support legs 44 and 46 will be biased into firm frictional contact, as indicated generally at 43 and 51 in FIG. 4, with the adjacent side walls of the generally L-shaped members 28 and 30 to thus retain the support leg assembly 40 in the folded position thereof in the absence of a purposely applied force to free the same.

More specifically, and as illustrated in FIG. 5 wherein the support leg assembly 40 is depicted in the unfolded or operative position thereof with the respective support legs 44 and 46 spread apart to provide a wide support base as discussed in further detail hereinbelow, spaced pivot pins 50 and 52 are provided to extend through the support leg sleeve 42 and through bores provided therefor in the respective support legs 44 and 46 to effect the pivotal mounting of the latter from the said support leg sleeve. In addition, an eye-bolt sleeve 54 is positioned as shown in the support leg sleeve 42 intermediate the respective support legs in such manner that portions of the periphery of the said eye-bolt sleeve will always be in contact with adjacent surface portions of the respective support legs 44 and 46.

The support leg sleeve 42 is of generally box-like configuration with the respective side walls 56 and 58 thereof being terminated short of the respective upper and lower walls thereof to provide the edges as indicated at 60 and 62 which will function in the nature of stops to restrict the outward spreading of the respective support legs 44 and 46 to the extent depicted in FIG. 5.

With this support leg sleeve-support leg construction, it is believed clear that the respective support legs 44 and 46 may readily be spread from the position thereof depicted in FIG. 4 wherein the same are contained in the storage space 31 in upright member 14, to the position thereof depicted in FIG. 5 wherein the same have been removed from the storage space 31, pivoted downwardly, and spread apart to the maximum extent possible as determined by the relative dispositions of the respective edge stops 60 and 62. Rounded edges as indicated at 64 and 66 are provided on the respective support legs 44 and 46 to enable the support legs to be spread to the extent depicted in FIG. 5 without leg edge interference. In addition, it is to be understood that the respective support legs 44 and 46, and eye-bolt sleeve 54, are dimensioned to provide the slight outward support leg bias referred to hereinabove in that, with the support legs in the stored position thereof of FIG. 4, the natural action of the support leg-eye-bolt sleeve surface contact will, of course, be to push the support legs slightly apart thereby requiring a slight manual squeezing together of the latter to enable the insertion thereof into the storage space 31 of the upright member 14. To completely insure that the respective support legs 44 and 46 do not accidently come free from the support member 14, retaining pins 45 and 47 are provided to extend through the side walls of the generally L-shaped members 28 and 30, as best seen in FIG. 3, and function in obvious manner to retain the said support legs within the said members. This is to say that it will be impossible to remove the former from the latter without the application of a force to squeeze the support legs 44 and 46 together to enable the same to clear the inner extremities of the respective pins 45 and 47 as should be obvious.

Holding means are provided to prevent the respective leg assemblies 38 and 40 from spreading completely apart under the action of the weight of the sign support and the sign to be supported thereby. More specifically, and as best seen in FIG. 6, for the support leg assembly 40 these holding means would comprise an eye-bolt 68 which extends through the support leg sleeve 42 and the eye-bolt sleeve 54 (FIG. 5) and is adjustably retained in position on the support leg sleeve 42 by nuts 70 and 72. In addition, an eye-bolt 74 is provided to extend through an eye-bolt support plate 76 which is in turn supported from the generally L-shaped members 28 and 30 of upright member 14, and the eye-bolt 74 is retained in position by a nut 78 which bears against the inner surfaces of the said generally L-shaped member. A spring clasp 82 is provided to connect the respective eye-bolts 68 and 74 to thus resiliently limit the extent to which the leg assembly 40 can spread, or pivot upwardly with relation to upright member 14, as seen in FIG. 6.

Since the support leg assembly 38 is, as set forth hereinabove, generally identical with the support leg assembly 40, the former need not be described in detail herein and especially since FIG. 6 is believed to make clear that the support leg assembly 38 also comprises a support leg sleeve and a plurality of support legs, and that a holding means is provided to prevent uncontrolled spreading of the support leg assembly 38, all in the nature of those described directly hereinabove with regard to the support leg assembly 40.

Auxiliary signal support means 84 and 86 may be provided as shown, and may in turn be supported from the generally horizontal member 24 through the simple expedient of inserting the former within bores provided therefor in the said generally horizontal member. The auxiliary support members 84 and 86 are preferably made of plastic, for lightweight, and may be utilized, for example, to support auxiliary signal means in the nature of flashing lights or other illuminating means which would function to draw attention to and/or illuminate the sign supported from the main support frame.

The new improved, folding sign support of my invention may be constructed from any relatively lightweight material which exhibits suitable strength characteristics and, although aluminum is currently preferred for this construction, it is to be made clear that other metals, plastics, or even wood, could, under certain circumstances, prove satisfactory for sign. support structural use.

In use, and assuming the sign support assembly operation to be performed by one man, one would commence with the sign support in the condition thereof depicted in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 wherein the respective support leg assemblies 38 and 40 are in the folded positions thereof and are maintained therein against the shocks of sign support transportation and/or handling by the support leg biasing means as described in detail hereinabove. Preferably, the first step in sign support assembly is to orient the same in the generally vertical manner upon the surface on which it is to stand so that the lower face of the member 26 rests upon the said surface. Then, one of the support leg assemblies, as for example support leg assembly 40, is released by the application of slight inward pressure to the respective support legs 44 and 46 which inward pressure may of course be most conveniently applied to the respective support leg portions which protrude beyond the upright member 14 as seen in FIG. 2-to clear the retaining pins 45 and 47 and release the support leg assembly 40 from the upright member 14, and enable the downward pivoting thereof about the pivot pin 48. The sign support is next turned on its side so that the outer surface of upright member 12 rests upon the support surface, thereby enabling the pivotal movement of the support leg assembly 40 to the position thereof depicted in FIG. 6, the attachment of the spring clasp 82 to the eye-bolt 68, and the spreading of the respective support legs 44 and 46 to the positions thereof depicted in FIG. 5 to provide at least partial stability upon the commencement of re-uprighting of the thusly partially assembled sign support.

With the sign support then partially re-uprighted and resting at an angle on the lower edges of the respective support legs 44 and 46 and the lower edge of upright member 12, the next step is to release the support leg assembly 38 by slight squeezing together of the protruding end portions of the respective support legs thereof, the downward pivoting of the support leg assembly 38 about its pivot pin, the spreading of the respective support legs of the support leg assembly 38 and the slight lifting of the sign support to also cause the respective ends of the support legs to rest upon the support surface and the sign support to stand by itself, albeit in a somewhat tilted position.

Thereafter, the sign support is raised, as by gripping and uplifting of the member 26, to the extent necessary to enable the attachment of the spring clasp and eye-bolt means of the support leg assembly 38 whereupon the support frame will have been assembled into the operative position thereof depicted in FIGS. 5 and 6 and will, of course, be kept upstanding itself due to the gripping of the support surface by the respective lower support leg extremities. Following this, the sign to be supported may be readily attached, in obvious manner, to the respective sign support brackets 36 and, if desired, auxiliary indication means, such as signalling means and/or sign illumination means, readily attached for support to the auxiliary support means 84 and 86.

In assembled position, and with an overall sign support height of approximately nine feet, including an upright member height of approximately 6 /2 feet, the new and improved sign support of my invention may be designed to provide itself with a very large, generally rectangular support base area measuring, 'for example, as depicted in FIG. 7, approximately 6 /2 feet in one dimension and approximately five feet in the other.

Thus is believed made clear whereby it provided by my invention a significantly improved sign support which, through the lightweight and compact, readily manipulatable configuration thereof when folded or disassembled is rendered truly portable by one man, which, through the relative ease of assembly and disassembly thereof, is rendered truly assemblab'le and disassemblable by one man and which, through the very wide support base area provided thereby when assembled, and the relatively low center of gravity thereof when assembled, is rendered eminently satisfactory for the support of signs under high wind conditions. Accordingly may be readily understood whereby my new and improved folding sign support is ideal for use in the support of temporary highway warning signs. Although it will not prove necessary except under the most arduous of operating conditions in the nature, for example, of gale force winds, it is to be understood that the new and improved folding sign support of my invention may be rendered even more stable by the afiixation of additional weighting means thereto, and that support member 26 would provide an ideal location for such additional weight afiixation in that any additional weight aflixed to support member 26 would, of course, function to further lower the sign support center of gravity.

It will be apparent that many modifications and variations in addition to those noted above may be effected in the described embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a folding sign support, a main support frame comprising spaced, first and second generally upright outwardly opening side channel members to provide first and second, open storage spaces therein, first and second support leg assemblies pivotally mounted within said storage spaces of said first and second upright channel members, respectively, each of said support leg assemblies being pivotally movable from a first position thereof in which the same is folded substantially within the respective one of said storage spaces to a second position thereof in which said support leg assembly is unfolded from said upright channel member and will, in comb-ination with the other of said support leg assemblies, be operative to contact a support surface and thereby support said main support frame thereabove, each of said support leg assemblies including a main leg member which is pivotally mounted at one end in the respective storage space, first and second leg extensions which are pivotally mounted on said main leg member, said leg extensions being pivotally movable relative to said main leg member from first positions thereof in which said leg extensions are in general alignment with said main leg member and are foldable therewithin into the respective storage space, to second positions thereof concomitantly with the pivotal movement of said support leg assemblies to the respective second positions thereof and wherein said leg extensions are spread apart to contact said support surface at widely spaced points and thus provide a large support base area for said sign support, and biasing means carried by said main leg member between said leg extensions pivoted thereon and operative, when the leg extensions are in the respective first positions thereof and folded within said respective storage space to bias the leg extensions apart against the sides of the channel member to thereby inhibit pivotal movement of said support leg assemblies out of said storage spaces.

-2. In a folding sign support as in claim '1 wherein, said leg extensions are pivotally mounted at spaced points on said main leg member in such manner that the former will be generally parallel andcoextensive when said leg extensions are in said first positions thereof and said biasing means disposed between said leg extensions is disposed in surface contact therewith when said leg extensions are in said first positions thereof whereby said biasing means will be operative to bias said support legs outwardly against the sides of said generally upright member, said leg extensions being pivotally mounted on said main leg member adjacent corresponding extremities of the former and said leg extensions further comprise adjacent, rounded extremity edges to prevent edge interference therebetween upon pivotal movement of said leg extensions from said first positions thereof to said second positions thereof.

3. In a folding sign support as in claim 1 further comprising, holding means cooperatively associated with said main support frame and said support leg assemblies and operable to prevent the pivotal movement of said support leg assemblies from said second positions thereof back to said first positions thereof.

4. In a folding sign support as in claim 1 wherein, said first and second main leg members are each laterally pivoted apart from each other from said main support frame upright side channel members about an axis to form a predetermined angle with said respective upright member when said frame is in an assembled position, said holding means being operable to maintain said main leg members at substantially said predetermined angles, and said first and second leg extensions being pivotal apart from each other about an axis normal to said axis of lateral pivotal movement of said respective main leg member; adjacent corresponding extremities of said respective main leg member and said biasing means being operable to maintain said spaced apart leg extensions in contact with said supoprt surface at said widely spaced points, whereby a 10W center of gravity is provided for said main support frame.

5. In a folding sign support as a claim 4 wherein, said main support frame includes first and second generally horizontal members connecting saidupright side channel members at the respective corresponding extremities to form a generally box-like main support frame; sign sup- References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 757,766 4/1904 Palmer 248-1886 1,662,586 3/1928 Newman 211-178 1,824,444 9/ 1931 Mueller 248-166 2,844,897 7/ 1958 Vance 248-166 2,893,767 7/1959 Buchman 211-178 MARION PARSONS, JR., Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

